The 2009 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters was the twenty-third season of premier German touring car championship and also tenth season under the moniker of

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM, German Touring Car Masters) is a grand touring car series sanctioned by ITR e.V. who have been affiliated to the DMSB-FIA since 1984. The series is based in Germany, with rounds elsewhere in Europe. The ser ...

since the series' resumption in 2000. The series began on 17 May at

Hockenheim Hockenheim () is a town in northwest Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about 20 km south of Mannheim and 10 km west of Walldorf. It is located in the Upper Rhine valley on the tourist theme routes "Baden Asparagus Route" () and Bertha Benz M ...

and finished on 25 October at the same venue.

Timo Scheider Timo Scheider (born 10 November 1978 in Lahnstein) is a German racing driver who competes in the FIA World Rallycross Championship for Münnich Motorsport. He won the DTM title in 2008 and 2009. Career Karting Like most other drivers, Scheider ...

successfully defended his championship title, taking his

Audi A4 The Audi A4 is a line of compact executive cars produced since 1994 by the German car manufacturer Audi, a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group. The A4 has been built in five generations and is based on the Volkswagen Group B platform. The first ...

to a five-point series win over Mercedes-Benz driver

Gary Paffett Gary Paffett (born 24 March 1981 in Bromley) is a British racing driver. Having become a household name in the DTM, following fifteen years in the series and two championship wins, Paffett moved onto Formula E for the 2018/19 championship, afte ...

Teams and drivers

Of the nineteen drivers that competed in the 2008 season, only Bernd Schneider and

Christijan Albers Christijan Albers () (born 16 April 1979) is a Dutch former professional racing driver. After success in the DTM he drove in Formula One from until the 2007 British Grand Prix, shortly after which he was dropped by the Spyker F1 team. In 200 ...

did not return. Rookies in 2009 are the Kolles Futurecom trio of

Christian Bakkerud Christian Bakkerud (3 November 1984 – 11 September 2011) was a Danish racing driver, who competed in the 2007 and 2008 GP2 Series seasons, albeit hindered by a recurrent back injury. Prior to GP2 he competed in British Formula 3 and Formula B ...

Johannes Seidlitz Johannes Seidlitz (born 13 June 1990) is a German racing driver from Wassertrüdingen. He currently competes in the ADAC GT Masters championship. Racing career Single-seaters After competing in karting between 2001 and 2006, Johannes moved onto ...

and

Tomáš Kostka Tomáš Kostka (born 27 August 1984) is a Czech racing driver, who lives in Beausoleil, Alpes-Maritimes. Racing career Kostka raced in Formula Ford and the Ford Puma Cup in 2001. He raced in Formula BMW ADAC and Austrian F3 the following year. ...

. The following manufacturers, teams and drivers competed in the 2009 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. All teams competed with tyres supplied by Dunlop.

Driver changes

Katherine Legge Katherine Anne Legge ( ; born 12 July 1980) is a British professional auto racing driver, competing in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. She is also featured in ''Richard Hammond's Crash Course''. Racing career Early racing and Atlantics ...

moved from the

Futurecom-TME ByKolles Racing, formally known as Kodewa GmbH & Co. KG, is an auto racing team based in Greding, Germany. It was founded in 2000 by Romulus Kolles and his son Colin Kolles as Kolles Racing. History The company initially participated in German ...

team to a team created for her at Audi Sport Team Abt Lady Power, gaining a later model Audi with the change.

joined the series coming from

GP2 Series The GP2 Series was a form of open wheel motor racing introduced in 2005 following the discontinuation of the long-term Formula One feeder series, Formula 3000. The GP2 format was conceived by Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore, while Eccle ...

along with Formula Renault BARC driver

both joining the

Colin Kolles Colin Kolles (born Călin Colesnic 13 December 1967 in Timișoara) is a Romanian-German former team principal and managing director of the Hispania Racing F1 Team, previously holding a similar position at the team known under the names Jordan, ...

owned Futurecom-TME team with Czech Touring Car Championship racer

joining sister-team Futurecom-BRT.

left DTM to pursue sports car racing with Kolles'

Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...

team and the most successful driver in the history of DTM, four-time champion Bernd Schneider retired from the sport.

Technical changes

The series adopted new rule changes, as announced on 21 April 2009. Qualifying consisted of four sessions, rather than two in 2008. The minimum weights of the cars were also altered, with 2009 cars topping the scales at 1050 kg, 2008 cars at 1030 kg and 2007 machinery at 1010 kg.

Race calendar and results

To avoid a clash of coverage times with the

2009 Bahrain Grand Prix The 2009 Bahrain Grand Prix (formally the 2009 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 26 April 2009 at the Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain. It was the sixth Bahrain Grand Prix and fourth race of t ...

, the season opener traditionally held at

took place on 17 May, three weeks later than originally planned. Consequently, the

EuroSpeedway The Lausitzring (formally known as the Dekra Lausitzring for ownership reasons) is a race track located near Klettwitz (a civil parish of Schipkau, Oberspreewald-Lausitz district) in the state of Brandenburg in northeast Germany, near the bor ...

round that had been scheduled for this date was moved to 31 May. The

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently host ...

round was also moved back a week due to the

2009 Belgian Grand Prix The 2009 Belgian Grand Prix (officially the 2009 Formula 1 ING Belgian Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 30 August 2009 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, near the village of Francorchamps, Wallonia, Belgium. It was the 12th race ...

, from 30 August to 6 September. French circuit

Dijon-Prenois Dijon-Prenois is a motor racing circuit located in Prenois, near Dijon, France. The undulating track is noted for its fast, sweeping bends. Opened in 1972, Dijon-Prenois hosted the Formula One French Grand Prix five times, and the Swiss Grand Pr ...

made its maiden appearance on the DTM calendar holding the penultimate round of the season on 11 October. Italian circuit

Mugello The Mugello is a historic region and valley in northern Tuscany, in Italy, corresponding to the course of the River Sieve. It is located to the north of the city of Florence and includes the northernmost portion of the Metropolitan City of Flo ...

was dropped from the calendar.

Season results

Timo Scheider won his second DTM series crown for Audi team Abt Sportsline. With season long rival, Mercedes-Benz driver Gary Paffett taking four wins through the season, and with Scheider disqualified from the results at

Zandvoort Zandvoort () is a municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is one of the major beach resorts of the Netherlands; it has a long sandy beach. It is bordered by coastal dunes of Zuid-Kennemerland National Park and the Amsterdam ...

mid-season, left Scheider behind Paffett for much of the season. Schieder finished first or second in all bar one event for the remainder of the season after Zandvoort including victories at

Oschersleben Oschersleben () is a town in the Börde district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The population in 1905 was 13,271, in 2020 about 19,000. History On November 23, 994 Oschersleben was first mentioned in a document by the Emperor Otto III. In 1235 ...

and

Catalunya Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the northe ...

in an irresistible charge to the title. By the time Paffett returned to the podium with wins in the last two races of the year Scheider had built a points buffer large enough to secure the title.

Paul di Resta Paul di Resta (born 16 April 1986) is a British racing driver from Scotland, competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Peugeot Sport in their LMH entry. He drove in Formula One for Force India from to , and became a reserve driver ...

stood on the podium three times in the final four races, including a win at

to emerge from the pack in third place in the series pointscore, four points ahead of

Bruno Spengler Bruno Spengler (born August 23, 1983) is an Alsatian-born Canadian racing driver, currently racing for the BMW factory/works team. Nicknamed 'The Secret Canadian', he won the 2012 DTM Drivers' Championship. Career Early career Spengler was b ...

and

Mattias Ekström Mattias Ekström (born 14 July 1978 in Falun, Sweden) is a racing driver from Sweden. He competed in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters for Audi from 2001 until his retirement in 2018, and has been competing in the FIA World Rallycross Championship ...

. Apart from Scheider, Paffett and di Resta, race wins were taken by

Tom Kristensen Tom Kristensen (born 7 July 1967) is a Danish former racing driver. He holds the record for the most wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with nine, six of which were consecutive (from 2000 to 2005). In 1997, he won the race with the Joest Racing te ...

at the

season opener, his last ever touring car victory before semi-retirement;

Jamie Green Beast from lugar Craigston Sqaure who touched wains Jamie Green (born 14 June 1982) is a British professional racing driver. He is currently employed by Audi Sport Team Rosberg in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) touring car championshi ...

at the

Norisring The Norisring is a street circuit in Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as a motorcycle racing venue in 1947 and named in a 1950 competition to win a light motorcycle, the track became known as a sports car racing venue in the 19 ...

street circuit and by

Martin Tomczyk Martin Tomczyk (born 7 December 1981) is a German professional racing driver, and BMW Motorsport works driver. He was the DTM champion in 2011, third in 2007, fourth in 2006 and fifth in 2004, having won eight races. Racing career After a karti ...

at the

Nürburgring The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...

. The combined efforts of Paffett and Spengler saw the HWA run Salzgitter / Mercedes-Benz Bank team claim the teams prize at season's end, 100 points to 85 points of the Abt Sportsline team of Scheider and Kristensen.

Championship standings

Drivers' championship

*† — Driver retired, but was classified as they completed 90% of the winner's race distance.

Teams' championship

References

External links

The official website of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters
{{Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters years Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters seasons